Hamas says 2,000 soldiers involved in operation against Israel

MOSCOW - Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official, said that the movement involved almost 2,000 soldiers during the operation against Israel, while another 40,000 were deployed in the Gaza Strip, Sputnik quoted the Associated Press report.

Baraka added that even Hamas' closest allies were not informed about the operation in advance, the report said.

The operation was caused by a series of actions by Israeli authorities over the past year directed against Palestinian citizens, as well as the movement itself, as Israel planned to kill leaders of Hamas, the report read.

Baraka reportedly noted that the movement was shocked by the scale of the operation and the unpreparedness of Israeli armed forces. - BERNAMA-SPUTNIK